As you know, once a month we feature an entrepreneurial story of a successful business owner. This month we bring you the story of Evann Wehman Goins.
Evann is the founder of Root and Wilde, a wedding and special event floral design business, located in Kyle, TX (just south of Austin).
Evann started in the wedding industry on an internship for a wedding coordination company while in college. While coordinating a wedding, she met the floral designing company Urban Rubbish and landed an internship with them. She worked for Urban Rubbish for 4 years while in college. Her fiancé (now husband) accepted a job in downtown Austin which required Evann to relocate upon graduation. That event helped her make the decision to branch out and start her own business!
Evann began her business at a unique time - right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Evann told us that this caused her to meet some significant challenges. The challenges began with a lack of weddings in 2020 due to the shutdown and many rescheduled gatherings and events, particularly weddings. Despite this, Evann persisted. The demand for weddings is currently experiencing a major boom, but what was not anticipated was lingering impacts from 2020. Last year, flower growers saw some significant challenges which affected Evann’s business directly - from a forced shutdown of all flower farms to extreme weather events. These ultimately led to a shortage of flowers for weddings this season An increase in wedding demand and a shortage of flowers has meant a product cost increase of 200 - 300% which was not forecasted. Due to the fact that many weddings are booked a year or more in advance, these additional costs were not factored into budgets for the contracts this year.
You might think that facing a reduced income and reduced margin as a result of these challenges would be a deterrent for some; however, Evann has used these challenges to continue to build her business. One big lesson that Evann learned while working for Urban Rubbish was that treating clients like her own family and obtaining their trust for handling a very special element of one of the most important days of their lives needed to be the foundation of her business. Evann indicated this element along with resilience and conviction have been key to Root and Wilde's success. Evann's most satisfying business moment: the joy her brides experience when seeing their bridal bouquet which has been carefully and meticulously planned.
Evann looks up to her parents as her greatest inspiration. She indicated they both made sacrifices to support their family and her dad worked crazy hours sometimes. She has applied that principle to her business and knows that "when you own your own business, you [have] to make those sacrifices."
When we asked about advice for those new or soon to be entrepreneurs, Evann gave two major pieces of advice:
Read
Ask for help
Evann told us that everything from reading about how to grow or run a business to keeping her eyes open for tricks and tips while browsing social media platforms have helped her educate herself on running and managing her business. She also told us that a lot of starting her own business has been trial and error and even though she asked for help from others in the beginning, she wishes she asked for even more help.
Evann's business is heavy on weekend hours. In order to manage her business and personal life, she reserves her evenings for personal time so she can spend time with her new husband, Blake. She and her husband both have strong work ethics so they understand that occasionally they may need to work during otherwise reserved personal time, but Evann tries to make it a priority that work will happen during business hours unless an emergency comes up or there is no other way to complete her to-do list.
Evann has shown an immense dedication to her business and a representation of a successful balance between work and personal life, several values that we hold in high regard. We wish her continued success on her journey!
We love ogling over Root and Wilde's beautiful flower arrangements and are honored to be a chosen business partner for Evann's tax needs. Follow Root and Wilde on Facebook as Root and Wilde Floral Design and Instagram as @rootandwilde
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